Yanks beat O's, will face Tigers next

The New York Yankees celebrate after winning the American League division baseball series after beating the Baltimore Orioles 3-1 in Game 5. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan)

NEW YORK (AP) — Yankees-Orioles. Playoffs. Disputed home run to right field. Yankees win.

Sound familiar?

CC Sabathia and his New York teammates saw Nate McLouth’s long drive called foul by the slimmest of margins — hello, Jeffrey Maier — and then hung on to beat Baltimore 3-1 Friday in the deciding Game 5 of the AL division series.

With Alex Rodriguez benched, the Yankees advanced to the AL championship series against the Detroit Tigers, starting Saturday night in the Bronx.

Sabathia pitched a four-hitter, wriggling out of a bases-loaded jam in the eighth inning. It was his first career postseason complete game, and the first for the Yankees since Roger Clemens did it in 2000.

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Yet it was another piece of history that this game evoked.

Baltimore again was stung on a close play in right, echoing what happened across the street at the old Yankee Stadium in the 1996 AL championship opener.

This time, with the Orioles trailing 1-0 in the sixth, McLouth sent a 3-1 pitch deep down the right-field line. Eyes turned to right field umpire Fieldin Culbreth, who demonstrably waved foul with both arms.

Orioles manager Buck Showalter came out to ask for a video review, and five of the umpires went down a tunnel to examine the images. When they ran back onto the field about two minutes later, they didn’t make any signal — meaning the original call stood. McLouth struck out on the next pitch, ending the inning.

Steven Ellis, a fan from the Broad Channel section of Queens, caught the ball with his Yankee cap in the second deck.

A stadium usher who wouldn’t give his name, however, said he saw the ball glance off the pole.

Back in 1996, the 12-year-old Maier reached over the wall above right fielder Tony Tarasco and deflected Derek Jeter’s fly ball. Umpire Richie Garcia called it a home run, which tied the score 4-all in the eighth inning, and the Yankees went on to win in the 11th.

“Just watching at home, I promise,” Maier, now a grown man, texted to The Associated Press after this play.